Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Day Five (Monday)
Wee Guy and I headed back in to Edinburgh, on an earlier train so we could get back before the dreaded end of off peak. Stopped for coffee in the excellent cafe in the basement of the National Galleries on the Mound and added a couple of pastries to start our day. He picked up the book he'd spied on our earlier visit; I mapped out a quick sketch.

Gazing into the old town from the new

From there we headed up the steps towards the Royal Mile and on to the museum in Chambers Street again. We highly recommend the interactive exhibits in the science and technology wing ... they all worked, unlike some other places we've visited recently cough cough hrmacmillanspacecentre ...
There's also a wonderful fashion and textile display, focusing on the influence from Scottish fabrics and designers.

School and workplace

For our lunch, we headed south past the university buildings - McEwan Hall where I graduated, Teviot Row student Union with the showers with unlimited hot water, and my beloved Green Banana Club of yore at Potterow - to the Dick Vet at Summerhall for lunch. For a former student, wandering the hallways and stepping into the old library brought back lots of memories (good, bad, terrifying). Instead of hospital kennels there are now a distillery, sweet shop and art installations. No more radioactive cats in quarantine! Summerhall is home to the largest Arts complex outside London. We had a very tasty lunch in one of the surgery lecturer's offices under the surgical suite that I worked in briefly!

Late for a lecture?

It felt almost as odd revisiting the Dick as it did working there immediately after qualifying ... and with my son along for the ride too.

From there we headed back to the museum to catch a few more exhibits (museums - best in small doses), before catching our off peak return.

Entry to the galleries and the museum is free; pay extra to see certain exhibitions. Free access to the museum roof deck is a must for sunny and clear days

Summerhall is open all week though certain galleries are closed on Mondays. The lecture theatre were closed when we visited and so was the dissection room where the formalin fumes from the cadavers killed off my respiratory cilia :(